N.C. State running back lost for season

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 12:31 AM.

“It hurt these kids to lose there,” O’Brien said. “We had a pretty good run for five years.”

O’Brien said there was more of a feel of a big rivalry with Saturday’s game, something he embraced even though he didn’t like the result.

“It was good for the state. It was good for us,” he said. “We’ve got to win next year.”

This is the final season for quarterback Mike Glennon, so not only was he irked with the result against North Carolina, but also concerned with what it did to the Wolfpack’s Atlantic Coast Conference title chances.

“It seemed like at one point we had the game and we let it slip away,” Glennon said. “At one point we controlled our own destiny (in the ACC’s Atlantic Division standings) and we lost to our rival all at once.”

RALEIGH — North Carolina State will be without running back James Washington, the team’s leading rusher in 2011, for the rest of the season as he’ll need knee surgery after an injury suffered Saturday at North Carolina.

“He pretty much tore everything in his knee,” coach Tom O’Brien said Monday. “To get a hit like that, certainly is devastating for him and for a lot of us.”

Washington, who was coming off an ankle injury, had been limited at times this year, losing his starting position. He had started 17 consecutive games through the end of last season.

He dropped behind Tony Creecy and — based on his time missed with the ankle ailment — freshman Shadrach Thornton.

Washington’s 897 rushing yards last season were more than double of any other player on the N.C. State team. He was the second-leading player on the team in terms of number of catches with 42 last year.

This year, Washington played in parts of half of the first eight games. He finished with 77 rushing yards on 27 carries, putting him fifth on the team. He also caught eight passes for 58 yards.

Washington’s condition was just another downer for the Wolfpack, which is coming off Saturday’s 43-35 loss at North Carolina after leading by 10 points in the fourth quarter.

That ended N.C. State’s five-year winning streak in the series.

“It hurt these kids to lose there,” O’Brien said. “We had a pretty good run for five years.”

O’Brien said there was more of a feel of a big rivalry with Saturday’s game, something he embraced even though he didn’t like the result.

“It was good for the state. It was good for us,” he said. “We’ve got to win next year.”

This is the final season for quarterback Mike Glennon, so not only was he irked with the result against North Carolina, but also concerned with what it did to the Wolfpack’s Atlantic Coast Conference title chances.

“It seemed like at one point we had the game and we let it slip away,” Glennon said. “At one point we controlled our own destiny (in the ACC’s Atlantic Division standings) and we lost to our rival all at once.”